


Make a Wish

by Trammel



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Avengers Family, Friendship, Gen, Rhodey Is a Good Bro, Science Bros, Sorry Pepper is not actually in the story, Tony Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark is a fucking hero, happy birthday tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-29
Updated: 2016-05-29
Packaged: 2018-07-10 23:03:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7011817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trammel/pseuds/Trammel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It seemed to be an Avengers baking party. The genius scientist and part-time rage monster, the lethal assassin, the archer and the supersoldier were hanging out in sweats and t-shirts and making breakfast.<br/>Was he asleep and dreaming?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Make a Wish

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Birthday Tony! I started this last year but didn't finish it in time.

(May 29, 2012 - Manhattan)

Tony was awake. It seemed like he'd been awake since the wormhole, but that couldn't be true. He must have slept a little bit, because his eyes were closed.

He opened them and looked around on the bed for his phone, wondering what time it was in Japan, if Pepper was still in meetings. No, he'd wait. She was coming back today? Tomorrow? Sometime.

God, he was so fucking tired.

 He heard JARVIS talking, saying the day and time, but he didn't really pay attention. He was confused as he looked around. This wasn't his room. Right, he was staying on another floor of the tower while repairs were being made to the penthouse.

He got up and stumbled out to the kitchen of the floor he was on, seeking out coffee, and swore as he found the jar empty.

He looked out across the living room. JARVIS had raised the shades but it was still dark outside. He had no idea what time it was.

"J, is there any coffee in this place?"

"Yes, Sir. There is coffee in the communal kitchen."

Great. He padded to the elevator, still just wearing his t-shirt and boxers, not caring if he ran into anybody. The only person he'd probably run into was Bruce, and Bruce didn't mind. They'd already spent a lot of hours together in Tony's candyland, and he was hoping he would convince the man to stick around.

"However, Sir, I am not supposed to let you in until -"

"Until what? If I don't get coffee I may die, J. Actually die."

"Very well, Sir," he heard a fond note in JARVIS' voice as JARVIS opened the elevator. Tony walked down the short hallway to the door to the common area and heard voices.

"I know what I'm doing," Banner was saying, "Baking is very accurate and precise work. I've got it."

Then Natasha's voice, "The only accuracy food requires is getting it in your mouth right. Come on."

"Stop stealing the frosting, please," Bruce sounded a bit exasperated. "Steve, can you take the blueberry muffins out? I think they're done."

"Ok Doc." Capsicle answered.

It was the team, well, the rest of the team now that Fabio had gone back to Asgard. What were they doing? Cooking?

Tony walked in to the kitchen of the common area, not caring that he wasn't dressed. It was his tower anyway and he and modesty had never been close friends. And, yes, it seemed to be an Avengers baking party. The genius scientist and part-time rage monster, the lethal assassin, the archer and the supersoldier were hanging out in sweats and t-shirts and making breakfast.

Was he asleep and dreaming?

"Hey," Bruce looked over and smiled at him. Tony looked around at the others' faces. They weren't annoyed. Even Cap's face was remarkably friendly-looking. Tony had no idea what was going on.

"You're a little early," Cap said.

"What? For what?" He slumped down at the kitchen island, propping his arms on the counter. His head was spinning with exhaustion. He noticed what looked like a great spread of breakfast stuff being made. Was this some kind of team bonding breakfast or something? "What is it?"

"Stark," Capsicle smiled, the man was actually smiling at him. "It's your birthday."

Was it? It took a few moments for his brain to come on line and then he realized, oh shit. It was.

Well, at least he'd lived to celebrate it.

"At least it's the date in the SHIELD files," Natasha said, reaching into a bowl of what seemed to be chocolate frosting with her finger and bringing it to her mouth.

Legolas must have taken pity on him, because the archer slid a mug of steaming coffee into Tony's hand. Tony sipped it gratefully, nodding at him.

"Uh, yeah. It is. I mean, it's the right date."

Tony sat there for a few minutes, silent, just watching the others. Steve moved over to what looked like a cake and started to frost it. Bruce was making pancakes, and Clint was setting up a new pot of coffee. Natasha moved over to Cap to help him with the frosting.

Things were weirdly calm. The muffins smelled great. He'd eat in a bit. Right now he thought he would just close his eyes a minute. With all the people around, it felt almost safe; he didn't feel the nightmares encroaching.

He pushed his coffee mug a safe distance away and closed his eyes, resting his head on his hands, listening to the strangely comforting conversation around him.

They weren't frightening voices, foreign voices, alien voices. Just … his new teammates. Maybe, kind of, sort of friends.

* * *

Tony woke slowly. He was wrapped up in warmth, and his instincts were strangely telling him that whatever this was, it was safe. _Safe._

"Come on, birthday boy. You gonna sleep all day?" A voice he knew, and he felt a hand gently rubbing his back.

 _Rhodey_? Of course, it was Rhodey.

Tony slowly opened his eyes to find himself still on a kitchen stool, but slumped against his best friend, who had his arm around him. Tony's head was lolling on Rhodey's shoulder, and he'd actually been drooling on his friend's t-shirt. There was even a blanket over him. That was weird.

He heard the voices of the other Avengers from the living room, and he saw that the kitchen was filled with a ton of food - muffins, eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes and bagels and, was that a cake?

He remembered - the others had been baking and _oh_ , he had fallen asleep. He had actually slept without nightmares for the first time in months (years?).

Tony moved a bit and looked up to see Rhodey's smiling face.

"I came all this way and you just gonna snore your way through the day?" His friend laughed. Tony hadn't seen Rhodey since - since everything. Rhodey was smiling at him, but there was a strain behind his eyes.

Tony cleared his throat. For once no snarky remarks came to mind. "Hey."

"Hey. It's really good to see you man." And then he was being crushed against Rhodey's chest, the other man hugging him so tightly he could hardly breathe. Rhodey whispered then. "Don't you _ever_ fucking do that again. _Ever._ Make me sit there and watch on TV while you - you -"

Rhodey pulled back and looked Tony in the eyes, sighing and serious. "Or at least, god, at least next time fucking call me. I'll go with you."

Tony nodded and found his voice. "I know. I know." Tony broke off from that too-real gaze and looked around at the spread. "So, we gonna eat or what?"

 Rhodey nodded. "Guys," Rhodey called out. "You can come back in. He's conscious."

The others came back into the kitchen and started serving up plates. Tony stood up to stretch his legs; sleeping on a stool was not too good for his back.

He picked up his coffee and took a sip. It was kind of cold, but he didn't care. Caffeine was needed.

"So, you've met most of the members of the boy-band?" He asked Rhodey.

"Yeah. I'm sorry I missed the Thunder God."

 "I don't know how often he'll make it back to our little burg here, but I'm building him a floor too. And there'll be one for you too," he said to Rhodey. "Pep and I have made up all the plans. I can show you-"

"Just eat right now, Tony. It's ok." Rhodey said kindly.

"I made three kinds of muffins," Bruce informed him. "We got blueberry, apple cinnamon and maple bacon."

"Wait, you can cook?" Tony was finding out all kinds of things about his science bro. So far when they'd holed up in the lab together, they just got takeout.

Bruce spoke as he filled up a plate for Tony. "You know, outside of the US, a lot of places don't have 24 hour takeout and supermarkets filled with crap full of preservatives. People think cooking is important."

"Well, it all looks great." Steve said.

Tony walked over to the counter where the cake was sitting. It was a three-layer thing with chocolate frosting and a beautifully-designed drawing of his latest suit in red and gold frosting on the top. Tony looked over at Steve.

"You do that?"

"Yeah," Captain America actually smiled bashfully. Wow.

But Tony  felt himself smile too, kind of a real smile now. "That's…great."

He looked at the others. Bruce, who had made the cake, was quiet but smiling hopefully. Natasha -Miss "I would do what I wanted with whomever I wanted," was simply eyeing the cake like she wanted to steal it. Rhodey was giving him his usual smile. Clint was opening beers and handing them out. Bruce raised an eyebrow at him.

"Come on, it's his birthday. And it's 5 o'clock somewhere," Clint said.

Bruce nodded and took a beer. Natasha moved to put half the bacon on her own plate, along with two muffins.

"Sir," came JARVIS' voice. "Miss Potts' plane has landed with no difficulties. She will be here  within the hour."

Tony suddenly found Rhodey next to him, putting his hand on Tony's arm and guiding him back to sit down in front of his full plate. Clint handed Tony an opened bottle of beer.

Tony raised it, looking around. "Ok, so, to…uh?"

For a moment there was an uncomfortable silence. Shit, maybe he should have just said cheers. But then Widow spoke up.

"To having seen worse." She raised her bottle and winked at him. "To still being here." Tony  noted Clint pressing himself a bit closer to her side.

"Yeah," Tony rallied, breaking out a patented "Tony Stark" smile. "Right. Another day, another chance to piss Fury off."

There was some laughter at that, and then everyone drank, even Bruce. Natasha started to steal bacon from Clint's plate, and Cap dug into his enormous stack of pancakes. Tony started munching on some bacon too.

"Here," Rhodey said, moving Tony's plate slightly and placing a blueberry muffin in front of him, with a candle stuck in it. "We can do the cake when Pepper's here. But it can't hurt to have an extra wish."

Tony was still, watching as Rhodey found a lighter and lit the candle. He looked down at the flame.

Make a wish?

 _Shit._ That idea opened up a huge can of worms…. Did he even deserve a wish? There was so so much he wished for.

_He wished he hadn't fucked up so many things._

_He wished he had wised up years earlier and stopped letting innocent people be killed with his weapons._

_He wished he hadn't blindly, stupidly trusted the wrong people._

_He wished he could have sent Phil to meet with his cellist, so he wouldn't have been killed._

_He wished there weren't untold hordes of aliens above the skies, ready to attack…_

Ok. Ok, breathe, he told himself, pushing down the fear that thought made rise up in him. _Not_ having a panic attack over a birthday muffin. Come on. Not happening.

He turned his head to look at Rhodey. That helped. He was here, with his best friend, and this strange group of people that he'd saved the world with. And Pepper would be there soon.

It was ok. Good. It was all good.

 A wish. Tony forced a congenial smile back onto his face. Ok, breath in -

_just let everybody, everybody - Let everybody be safe. Please._

_Please let everybody be safe._

And he blew out the candle.


End file.
